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Large-Scale Transmission Expansion Planning with Network Synthesis Methods for Renewable-Heavy Synthetic Grids

Author

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  • Adam B. Birchfield

    (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

  • Jong-oh Baek

    (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

  • Joshua Xia

    (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

Abstract

With increasing electrification and the connection of more renewable resources at the transmission level, bulk interconnected electric grids need to plan network expansion with new transmission facilities. The transmission expansion planning (TEP) problem is particularly challenging because of the combinatorial, integer optimization nature of the problem and the complexity of engineering analysis for any one possible solution. Network synthesis methods, that is, heuristic-based techniques for building synthetic electric grid models based on complex network properties, have been developed in recent years and have the capability of balancing multiple aspects of power system design while efficiently considering large numbers of candidate lines to add. This paper presents a methodology toward scalability in addressing the large-scale TEP problem by applying network synthesis methods. The algorithm works using a novel heuristic method, inspired by simulated annealing, which alternates probabilistic removal and targeted addition, balancing the fixed cost of transmission investment with objectives of resilience via power flow contingency robustness. The methodology is demonstrated in a test case that expands a 2000-bus interconnected synthetic test case on the footprint of Texas with new transmission to support 2025-level load and generation.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam B. Birchfield & Jong-oh Baek & Joshua Xia, 2025. "Large-Scale Transmission Expansion Planning with Network Synthesis Methods for Renewable-Heavy Synthetic Grids," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:14:p:3844-:d:1705323
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Muhyaddin Rawa, 2022. "Towards Avoiding Cascading Failures in Transmission Expansion Planning of Modern Active Power Systems Using Hybrid Snake-Sine Cosine Optimization Algorithm," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-25, April.
    2. Adam B. Birchfield & Eran Schweitzer & Mir Hadi Athari & Ti Xu & Thomas J. Overbye & Anna Scaglione & Zhifang Wang, 2017. "A Metric-Based Validation Process to Assess the Realism of Synthetic Power Grids," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-14, August.
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